Master Key to the World
by Hi I'm Sky
Summary: Sora, in his world travels, finds himself deep within a strange place. He befriends a local, who is on a journey to save his home. Set in the OoT world. T for language if I feel like it.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING.  
**

**In this story, the Keyblade can open any lock. Deal with it.**

The forest temple was just a little creepy to Link. Well, a lot creepy. He had lived in the forest for nearly all the time he could remember- and to think that this place- this strange place that echoed of passed civilizations before, to think it had been there the whole time… it sent a chill down his spine. But, with a new quiver full of arrows and a bow in his hand, he felt slightly more prepared. Only slightly, though. He walked through a door, seeing a short area that was the top of a staircase and there was a picture of a red ghost looking at him. And no, not just staring in the way any portrait would, it saw Link just as much as Link saw it. He knew this because there were three frames, and only one had the ghost in it. And when he got too close to the picture, it would disappear with a laugh. But knowing it was real, and knowing it would leave if he got too close, and knowing he had a bow and a quiver full of arrows, he knew what he had to do.

"You'll have to fight it if you free it." Navi warned.

"I had figured." He pulled back an arrow, and shot. "But I've got to do this."

It hit in the middle of the ghost, and the picture suddenly engulfed itself in flames. Two more shots, and the ghost materialized in front of Link. He had fought Poes before, and one armed with a torch didn't frighten him at all. He was ready, with every sword strike, precise and clean, the ghost was defeated, and the flame traveled from the torch of the Poe, to the torch by the door.

/o\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Sora was confused. He was getting used to waking up in strange new places, but it was always just a bit unnerving how he never knew anything about where he was. After shaking off his dizziness and getting his bearings back, he checked around himself, seeing that his normal companions were nowhere to be found. This wasn't strange, as he hadn't seen them for a while, but going to new worlds, it was always nice to have friends you could count on. He sighed, knowing that couldn't be the case here. Accepting that realization, he was up and looking around the rather strange setting.

It looked like some strange cross between an abandoned church or an old palace, or at least _something_ like that. Next to him, there was an unlit torch and behind him, a door that had a big lock and chains on it. He knew that the keyblade could open any lock, but if someone had gone through the effort, he figured it might be better not to go through. Still reorienting to where he had awoken, he noticed a picture of a blue… _thing_ with eyes- eyes that looked like they were staring right into him. It was holding a torch of some sort. At closer inspection, it looked like a ghost. "Uh-oh. Spooky!" He laughed a little bit, as he walked to the painting, about to touch it.

"HEHEHEHE!" The painting started to fade away.

"Wha-" Sora reeled in surprise. He turned around, seeing another frame with the exact same painting inside. He stared at the painting, and it stared back, as a smile crept across his face. "Well, that's weird…" Sora looked up, as there was another staircase leading to a higher level. He saw another empty frame. He looked to the ghost. "Oh, I get it!" He said looking to the ghost. "You're _actually_ a ghost! Awesome! And you travel between these frames… I probably shouldn't… but sorry. I'm curious." He held out his hand and concentrated on a feeling inside of himself. "Fire!" A ball of fire built in his hand and ejected itself with force toward the painting. He could see the ghost escape as the picture burned. He looked up to the one above, and thrust his hand forward again, and fire flew. Then, he turned around, seeing the ghost only inches from himself. "There. Now you're trapped." He crossed his arms. "That was probably kinda mean of me." He tilted his head at the ghost. "Well, it _would _be, if I couldn't tell that you're up to something…" He stared, and could feel the eyes staring back. "So let's get you out of there." He held out a hand on fire and set the painting ablaze. Suddenly, in front of him, the ghost materialized, with blue flame on its torch, and it flew down the stairs. Sora followed it quickly, curiously. The ghost looked at him, then flew close, swinging its torch wildly. Sora backed up and let it pass, evading with ease as he held out his hand, and let the power of the keyblade materialize around it. He held out the blade to the ghost, bringing it down with a strong slash that collided and made the ghost give a shrill cry. The ghost threw its hands up, and then held completely still. Then, the lantern fell to the ground, and the fire disappeared from the torch, and reappeared by the torch of the door. The moment became remarkably quiet.

He put his hand over the blue flame, feeling its warmth. "Wow. Ghosts. So... haunted house?" He scratched his head between two spikes of hair. Then, he bounced on his feet lightly. "Man, a world with ghosts!" He ran back up the stairs, eager to find out what else was in the world for him to see.

/o\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Satisfied with his work, Link sheathed his sword and grinned a bit, crossing his arms. "Alright- and that torch looks just like the one in the foyer. I bet it's lit there too."

"So now what?" Navi asked.

"Well, there was the other side of the room upstairs, right?" He said, pulling out the map he had found of the dungeon. "Where I beat the stalfos."

"Just be careful. You know, this place just gives me the creeps." Navi said, as Link walked up the stairs. He opened the door. Suddenly, a noise rushed to his ears. It was the noise of an opening door- but it wasn't the one he had opened, it was across the room. He looked, across, immediately meeting a stare. Navi followed, through the door, as Link left it open, staring back at the other.

A boy, that was certain. Younger than Link, that too was certain, but not by much. Maybe a year or two- but with Link's accelerated age, Link wasn't sure if he should feel younger or older than him. He, like Link, had eyes that were blue as the sky, but that was where their similarities ended. He wore strange colorful clothes, with blues, blacks, reds, and yellows mixed in. Altogether, he was a bit of a spectacle, but Link's first reaction didn't hold any of that in any sort of regard. "Who are you- and what are you doing here?" He asked almost harshly.

Then, the boy did something that for whatever reason, Link didn't expect. He smiled. "Uh- Sorry!" He laughed, seemingly a bit embarrassed. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be here… You look like you know what's going on, do you think you could point me out of here?"

Link stared for a second. "Wait- how did you even get here in the first place? I don't know how anyone who's not Kokiri could. Everyone gets lost in the woods…"

"I honestly have no clue what you're talking about."

"Wait, you're not just a trick of the forest temple, are you?"

"Temple?" He asked, looking above and at the ceiling. "This place is a temple?"

Link frowned, a bit frustrated. "Okay…" He rubbed his face. "Look, can you just tell me what you _do_ know?"

"Sure! My name is Sora. I might say that I'm lost, but… you know, lost sort of implies that I got knocked off track from a destination, which I don't have, so… I'm wandering, I guess."

"Wandering." Link repeated, with a hint of disbelief. "So you have no idea where you are?"

"Yeah- which sucks, but you know- it can be more fun that way. So, I guess I can help you if you need it. Can I help you?"

Link raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that I would need help with something?"

Sora blinked at him a few times. "What?"

"I'm asking why you think I need someone else?"

"_Well_… You've got a sword on your back, and I think that's a shield there too. A quiver at your side and a bow in your hand. You look busy. All I'm saying is that maybe I can help- however you need it. Or not, I just thought I'd offer."

"I'm in a dangerous line of work here."

"I figured. You're breathing weapons locker!"

"I mean, look, I just had to slay a Poe to restore a fire to the temple, and that's not _near_ the most dangerous thing that I've had to do."

"Poe? Those ghosts are called _Poes_?"

Link nodded. "Yeah. You didn't know?"

Sora laughed, but Link didn't know why. Then, the strange boy smiled. "Yeah, I beat one of those ghosts too."

Link curiously raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"The ghost. I beat one."

"How-? What did it look like?"

"With my blade, and it was blue and ghosty."

"Really? So you can handle yourself pretty well?"

Sora nodded quickly. "I sure can."

"Then… maybe you and I _can_ help each other."

The brown haired boy nodded with a smirk. "That was the plan. What's your name?"

"I'm Link."

"Alright."

"And this is Navi. My fairy." He pointed to a floating white light next to him.

"Fairies _and_ ghosts?" Sora clapped his hands together. "Ah, man! This place is _neat_!"

Link stared, still a bit confused.

"Okay, so what are we looking for?" Sora asked, walking over to Link with a grin.

"There are two more ghosts around. We need to find them."

Sora nodded. "What for?"

"It's… weird. I'm trying to find my friend, but I have to find these ghosts first."

"Oh." Sora frowned a little bit. "I've been on big searches for friends before. Don't worry, we'll find them."

"Thanks. So, how much ground have you covered?"

"Really, just that staircase over there."

"Let's check it out."

Link started over to the other side of the room, and Sora followed. Link opened the door and went inside. "Huh- looks just like the other side."

"Is that bad?"

"No, just saying."

"So, with fairies and ghosts and stuff, magic's something that you know about, right?"

"Huh?"

"Magic- it's real, right?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

"Just making sure I don't freak anyone out, is all." He explained as they walked down the stairs. "Sometimes people freak out when I use magic. I usually try to make sure it's a thing before I use it."

"Oh." Link pretended to not be confused. "Um… I haven't seen a lot of people that know how to use it. Really just me."

"Well, I can too!"

"Noted. But it can cause a reaction around towns…" At the bottom of the stairs, Link stopped and sighed, looking at the locked door. "Dang it."

"What?" Sora asked.

"Locked door…" He pointed. "And I don't know if I have any more keys."

"Oh, I can get it open."

"You can?"

"For sure." He held out his hand, and much to Link's surprise, tendrils of light started to wrap around his hand, forming the shape of a giant key that solidified into gold with silver at his fingers. He pointed it at the lock, and light shot from Sora's blade to the lock, making the lock tremor and fall to the ground, along with its chains. Sora looked over to Link, who frankly, looked impressed.

"Wow." He smiled. "That's _helpful_."

Sora hoisted the blade over his shoulder. "Shall we?"

They walked through the door. "How'd you do that?" Navi asked.

"I just can." He told the fairy. "I don't really much know how it works, but I don't mind it."

"I mean, really though. That's really helpful," Link reiterated.

"I'm glad."

The door had led them to a balcony, which Sora promptly looked over. He looked down, seeing the small river, the trees, the Deku Baba, which at the moment was still, and other greens. "It looks like a forest."

"That's because this is the forest temple." Link said, obviousness laced in his voice.

Sora nodded in understanding. "_Oh_… Okay."

"Did you not wander into the forest?"

Sora looked over. "Sorry. I must have forgot."

"It's okay." With how helpful Sora was turning out to be, Link knew he would be stupid not to let that issue go. Link looked to a neighboring balcony, where there was a target above, and a switch below. He pulled out his hookshot and aimed. Suddenly, the chain fired and locked, pulling Link to the other side. He heard Sora shout something along the lines of 'Whoa!' as he landed.

"That was awesome, Link!" Sora grabbed the banister on the balcony and hung over it. "Seriously!"

"It helps- a lot." He nodded.

He hit the switch, and then, they could hear the sound of water draining. Sora looked over the balcony, seeing a well running dry. "That's gonna make whoever lives here mad…"

"No one lives here. Don't worry." He climbed the banister and perched on it. "You good at jumping long distances?"

"We'll see!" He got on his balcony, ready to jump.

The two jumped down, and landed in the courtyard below. Link rolled, but Sora landed on his feet, with extra support from an arm. Landing that hard looked painful, but Sora got up, looking to be okay. Link, still trying not to look a gift horse in the mouth nodded at him. "Here, follow me." Link waved him to follow. He guided him down the well, through it, up the other side, through door and corridors, somewhat quickly. "See, the thing is, I came here to find a friend, but when I got here, these ghosts took away the flames on these torches, which made this thing that goes up and down between levels go away."

"An elevator?"

"Sure, you can call it that." Link nodded.

"That all sounds pretty complicated."

Link shrugged. "It wouldn't be if you had seen it. So, the point was that I had to find these ghosts before I could find my friend, right?"

"Yeah."

"Problem was that only certain ways were available to me to get through." He opened a door, and led Sora into a rather large room. Inside the room, there were two lit torches. Red and blue. "Yeah, I was right! See, we beat those ghosts, and now their flames are back."

Sora nodded.

"Anyway, there were only certain ways I could go because doors were locked. And every time I found a key, turning it broke the key."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, so basically, I've been looking up and down for keys just to get a little further here. The only assurance that I had to know that I _could_ get further was that to each locked door, there had to be a key on my side that had locked it, right?"

"Right."

"But now- with you- I don't have to search for those keys, because _you_ can just open these doors!"

"And we can find your friend faster!" Sora clapped his hands together.

"Exactly. You don't mind right?"

"Not at all. I love to help."

"Alright, thanks- really- I… I don't know where you're from, but you're a big help right now. Okay, so we need to find the other two ghosts." He started up a small set of stairs, where there was a locked door at the top.

Sora tapped the lock with his giant key, and it fell to the ground. Link smiled again, and they went inside. It was a somewhat large room. Or maybe not large, but empty. All there was in the room was a painting of the green ghost. "Alright! Here's another!" Link pulled out his bow and knocked an arrow, then let it fly.

It collided with the painting, making it rise in flames. Suddenly, five blocks fell to the ground.

"Huh?" Link looked at them, confused.

Sora's eyes widened. "Push them together, right?"

"What?"

"There's a picture of the ghost- push them together- but the one in the middle, push it out."

"Oh… okay!" Link agreed and started working. "Navi, watch from above, make sure we're doing it right!"

Navi flew up. "Will do!"

The two pushed the blocks together with instruction from the fairy, forming a picture on the top side, and then, the blocks disintegrated, leaving only the figure of the ghost, which suddenly, started to hurl itself at Link. Link was fast though, and had his sword drawn. He swung with force at it, striking it back, where Sora met it with another swipe. That seemed to be all it would take. It fell to the ground, defeated.

The flame lit up in the torch by the door, burning bright green. Sora hoisted his key on his shoulder, as if congratulating himself on a job well done, while Link sheathed his sword. "Now where?" Sora asked.

Link shrugged. "I guess back to the foyer."

Sora followed Link back going through the small hallway and through the first door. Down in the middle, Link saw the last Poe. The purple one. It was waiting for them.

"Here we go, Sora." Link said, pointing to it and drawing his sword.

The two jumped down, cornering the Purple Poe, but as they approached, it started to move in a strange, almost hazy way, and then, another Poe- exactly the same in every way appeared next to it. From those two- two more appeared quickly. Four Poes surrounded the two warriors.

However, they weren't frightened. They held their blades and went back to back. "Keep two in your sight, and attack when you get an opening." Link told Sora.

"Right!"

One Poe lunged forward at Sora with its lantern in hand. He evaded and swiped, but it phased through, and the Poe disappeared.

"They're fakes!" Sora called out.

Link swiped his sword at one, and it collided, and he heard a cry of pain, and all other Poes suddenly faded. "All but one are at least- look for something that gives away the true one!"

Four Poes surrounded them again, all in identical motion. Sora looked close at them, but could hardly see any difference. "They look the same!"

Link looked at the two in front of him, looking for anything- but then he realized, the secret was in its eyes. Three had a dead stare, and the other had a stronger light behind it. He swiped at the ghost, and it cried, and the others were gone. "The eyes- look in the eyes!"

Sora watched as the ghosts appeared in front of him, seeing one with brighter eyes. "Gotcha!" He slashed at it.

The ghost gave a cry of finality at the contact of Sora's blade and dropped its lantern. Purple flame escaped the lantern as it shattered and reappeared on the torch.

Link and Sora took a short breath. The blonde looked up to the torches, while Sora crossed his arms. "Well, that's all of them right?" Sora asked. "What now?"

"Well I-"

Link's answer was cut off by a sudden rumbling, as the middle of the room started to rise up, forming a small structure that was big enough to hold a person… or two.

"Oh, that's it!" Sora said with a grin, pointing to the structure. "That's the elevator?"

"Yeah. That's what I was looking for." Link stepped in, and Sora took his spot at the same time. As they stepped in, the elevator started to fall, and they went down, into the deepest part of the temple.

The elevator stopped in front of a massive door- one with a golden lock on it. It was a bit of an intimidating sight, and laced with a touch of finality that the two of them could both feel.

Sora tapped the lock and it fell to the ground, and the two stood in front of it, ready.

"Well…" Sora started, breaking the short silence between them. "Let's go." He walked forward, then was suddenly felt a sudden pain, like a shock running through his body as he was thrown back- colliding with a barrier of darkness in front of him that he only saw as he touched it.

"Whoa!" Link kneeled at Sora's side as he lay on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Sora sat up quickly and coughed. "Yeah- yeah it's fine. But I can't go in."

"… what?"

"Just- sometimes- sometimes these barriers show up and I can't get past them until something happens. It's never a problem with people who are… local. Usually it happens when I'm about to have a big fight- these… barriers that keep me locked into a place… I always used to think that it was whoever I was about to fight that did it- but… I think it's actually just the world telling me not to interfere." He frowned. "Sorry, but you're gonna have to go it alone from here."

Link's heart sank a bit. "Will… will I see you again?"

Sora stared, then grinned. "Link- I'll just wait up at the top of the elevator, alright? Go do whatever you need to do."

Link nodded, feeling a bit better. "Okay. Good. Thanks for all the help, Sora. I have to go find my friend."

Sora nodded and watched Link go through the door, waving as it shut behind him.

/o\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Waiting for Link, Sora got a bit bored and resolved to explore the temple a bit. He found a hallway that made him extremely dizzy, a tremendous chessboard that was more dangerous than he thought- but finally, he found a way out, and enjoyed the sunlight and feeling of being outside again.

He sat at the top of the broken staircase, kicking his feet back and forth, when suddenly, at the middle of a strange hexagonal structure that sat in the middle of the area, a light from the sky appeared. Sora looked up, seeing Link descend from the sky, landing gently on his feet. Sora jumped down to him and gave a grin. "Hey! I was almost starting to get worried!" He paused for a short moment. "So how'd you just do that light thing? That was neat."

"I was just… transported back from this place… the sacred realm…" He said softly. "It's like a… place between worlds."

Sora looked almost afraid to ask. "Was your friend there?"

He nodded. "And she's staying there. She said that from there, she could lend her power to me."

Sora pat his shoulder. "You alright?"

Link nodded again, but he was almost shaking. "But… I-I need to keep moving. There's a lot more I need to get done… Gotta keep going." He turned.

"Link." Sora grabbed his arm. "Look, I know we sort of just met, but you can talk to me."

Link sighed. "I dunno. I just thought I was a kid… you know?"

"Totally."

"And I've been thrown into this fight that's… so much bigger than me. Can you imagine… the fate of the _world_… It's resting on _me_. Can you imagine that pressure?"

Sora nodded. "I understand."

"And my friends are just sort of disappearing. My best friend- she's in the realm of spirits, and she's not coming back. It's just been hard, alright?"

The spiky haired boy nodded once more. "Yeah. Link, I get it."

Link scoffed. "No you _don't_."

Sora frowned at that.

"You have _no_ _clue_ of all the things I've been through- I've lost _everything_, and everyone depends on me now. There's _no_ way you can just keep nodding at me, in all sincerity and tell me you get it! So shut up! Shut up!"

"Link!" Sora grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Link, you need to relax! Because I _do_ know where you're coming from. I know, because I'm going through the _same_ stuff. Listen. There's a reason that my ears are round and yours aren't." He smiled gently, as Link's eyes looked over to the sides of his head, noticing that no pointed ears protruded from his spiky brown hair. They were rounded. Link was a bit surprised he hadn't noticed before. "It's because I'm not from here," Sora continued. "I'm from _really_ far away. And I mean _far._ But I found friends, and they taught me that no matter how far gone I am, I still have people who care about me, so whatever situation I'm in could be worse somehow. I'm trying to be that to you. I'm trying to be that friend you need."

Link said nothing for a moment. "Didn't you say you were wandering?"

"Not by choice. Link, I know exactly how you feel. Don't shove me away. That's silly. I'm just trying to help. Believe me- I know the pressure of having a world's fate depend on you. I know the pressure. I even know the sadness that comes when you fail."

Link stared at Sora, who looked more serious than ever. For a moment, he considered that maybe there was a lot more to him than he was showing.

Sora grinned weakly, "but I also know that there's hope, even at the end of _that_ tunnel. So when I say that I _do_ understand, I hope that you know that I mean it. So what's going on?"

"My friend sort of… just passed away."

Sora frowned, and pat Link on the back. "You okay?"

He nodded. "Because she's not really dead, really. She's in the other world- the sacred realm, helping me."

"You know, even death can't stop friends from being together. Precious memories, that love that exists there, and your desire to be with them, can cross any barrier."

He nodded. "I needed to hear that right now."

"Cool."

"Right… well, I guess we should go to Kakariko Village. You're willing to tag along, right?"

"Of course."

"Right. So, lets go…"

Sora followed Link through the trees, stepping over twigs, roots, and avoiding the gaze of other creatures that lived there. It was pretty normal for Link to see scrubs, but Sora immediately grabbed Link's shoulder and pointed at one. "What's that?" He asked with a big smile.

"It's a Deku Scrub. Don't worry about them. If you don't get too close, they won't hurt you."

"Oh." Sora nodded in understanding. "Are there a lot of those?"

"Just in the forest." Link said, as they reached a clearing. It was one he had walked many times in his life, but it left Sora's eyes wide, and his mouth hanging open.

"Whoa…" Sora marveled at the massive tree in front of him. "That's the biggest tree that I've ever seen!"

"It's…" Link suddenly looked sad.

"Dead." Sora said.

Link hit Sora on the stomach with the back of his hand. "Sh. Have some respect."

"Ow. Okay. Sorry. I didn't know it was sacred."

"It is. Or, it was. The Great Deku Tree was a guardian to the forest spirits who live here. It spoke to them, and taught them how to live." He continued walking on.

"Like, _actually_ talk?" Sora followed at his side.

"Yeah."

"_Really? _That's awesome." Sora said, easing his hands into his pockets. "Do trees talk often?"

"No, it's just the Great Deku Tree. You should know that trees don't usually talk, Sora."

"Oh, I just thought I'd ask since I'm not from- WHOA!" He shouted suddenly, as he fell to the ground.

Link turned around, seeing Sora lying on his stomach, before he got up quickly.

"That's embarrassing…" He muttered. "Tripped over a root."

"A root?" Link asked, looking back on their path. "I've never seen a root _here_ before…" He looked down to the root that Sora had tripped on. He bent down and reached for it, and- "AHH!" Link shouted as he was thrown to his back by the huge mound of wood that had erupted from the ground.

Sora looked over the situation. He looked at the thing that had sprouted from the ground, and how it had a face that was staring at the embarrassed pointy-eared man on the ground, then proceeded to double over, laughing.

Link grumbled, then looked to the face on the wood, and his eyes widened. "Hello! I'm the Great Deku Tree sprout." It said cheerfully.

Link got to his feet, while Sora was still gasping for air between laughs. "Sprout?"

"That's right. Because of your work, I can grow up to become a guardian to the forest. You did a great job clearing out the evil in the temple. Way to go!"

"Well, I didn't do it alone."

"Of course."

As if on cue, Sora poked the side of the tree. "Talking tree."

"Yes." The sprout said.

"Can you feel this?" Sora had a smirk on his face as he continued to poke the tree."

"Yes. Yes I can."

"Can every tree?"

"Yep."

"Whooooaaaaaaaa." Sora's eyes widened. "I'm never, ever, ever, going to cut down a tree."

"Anyway, back to the matters at hand." The sprout looked back to Link. "You may be wondering why you grew up, but no one else in the forest did. That's because, as you may have guessed, that you're not a Kokiri. You're a Hylian, Link!"

Link nodded. "I had guessed, honestly."

"It was long ago. The land had erupted in a terrible civil war. A soldier died in battle protecting his wife, who was bearing a child. She rushed into the forest for protection, and in giving birth to a baby boy, passed away, with the final wish that the Great Deku Tree would watch over him."

Link nodded.

"See, you were always destined to leave the forest, Link. You were always supposed to be the hero to save this world from evil. So go, and stop Ganon, Hero of Time!"

Link looked at Sora, who seemed to be watching Link now, more than the sprout. With a sigh, Link nodded to the Sprout. "I will."

It was only minutes later that Link was walking across a bridge with Sora behind him, following with a grin on his face and his fingers locked behind his head. "_Hero_ of _Time_?" He asked.

"It's the title for the wielder of the Master Sword." Navi explained, flying next to Sora. "Legends say that the hero bears the blade of evil's bane to cleanse the earth of darkness, and send it back into the sacred realm to be locked away forever."

Sora's big eyes panned over to Navi, then back to Link. "And… _Ganon's_ this evil?"

"Yeah." Link agreed. "He's the evil. He's the shadow. He ransacked and destroyed the castle town, and made Hyrule a terrible place under his rule. Luckily, just about everyone made it out alive, but… I don't know. It's just…" He stopped. "Ever have some place you loved- just destroyed."

Sora nodded.

"Yeah…"

Sora nodded with him, then pat his shoulder. "Hey. You and I have been through a lot, right? Let's get to this Kakariko Village and relax just a bit."

Link nodded. "That might do us well. I need to come to grips with everything that has happened…"

"I know how you feel."

**So... this is my first published story, and I'd appreciate feedback... or a comment- ANYTHING. Please? I'll love you forever.**


	2. Chapter 2

The two traveled through Hyrule field for almost an entire day's time, talking very little about anything except the things they saw in the field. They finally arrived as the sun was beginning to set on Kakariko. Link had spent a lot of time in Kakariko before, so it was hardly a spectacle to him anymore. However, to Sora, it seemed to be something incredible. "Wow… it's beautiful here…" He said with a grin, looking at the way the fading sunlight hit the tremendous windmill in the distance. He grinned and sank his hands behind his head and began to hum a peaceful tune. Link started to walk into the village, listening to Sora.

"Why are you humming?" Link asked.

Sora stopped. "I dunno. I like doing that sometimes. I'll stop now if it's annoying you."

Link shrugged. "It isn't. I was just curious. I was just curious if the song you were humming did something or… never mind."

Sora cocked his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there are some songs that have mysterious powers and abilities that are imbedded into their melodies. It's one form of magic."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Not a bit." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his blue Ocarina. "I've spent quite a bit of time learning them."

"What's that, a flute?" Sora asked, putting out his hand, expecting Link to let him examine it in his hand. Link kept it to himself, to Sora's slight disappointment.

"An ocarina, actually." Link explained. "And… I need to hold on to this. Sorry. It's sort of special."

"Oh. Special how?"

Link looked at the instrument in his hand and took a breath. "Well… it's got a certain special power that I don't really understand completely. The power of time…" He looked back to Sora, who was staring curiously. "I don't know exactly what all that entails, but I _do_ know that it's helped me do a bit of time travel."

"Really? That's so cool!"

Link sighed in response to that. "Well… not as much as it sounds. I missed a lot of things- lost a lot of people that I knew… they were worried about me in the time that I missed, and I was nowhere to be found." He moved his thumb across the ocarina. "Anymore, I'm just holding on to this because it was trusted to me by a friend of mine… I promised her I'd hold on to it. So I have. And I will. And I'll never let it go."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've I had known, I wouldn't have asked to see it."

Link smirked a little. "It's okay. You _still_ are pretty strange to me, in fairness."

"Sorry." Sora shrugged. "I thought it would be better to just be myself."

"Eh. I like it." He pat Sora on the shoulder. "Come on, like you said, let's get a cold drink."

There was a brick house that Link guided Sora to, where they sat at a bar, and were soon served two large mugs full of milk. Link wondered for a moment how Sora would react to it, but he seemed absolutely delighted.

"This village, man. It's so cool!" Sora said, taking a large gulp of his glass.

"Yeah. It was founded by these people- the Sheikah, who serve the royal family. Interesting folk. They're people of shadow."

"Like Ganon?"

"No. Ganon's a Gerudo. A tribe of thieves, made up of women, except for once, every hundred years, a boy is born to become their king."

Sora nodded. "Right. Man, this place has _so much_ going on."

Link laughed a little, but said nothing else. He was tired. Sora seemed to be able to tell, so he let the moment be quiet. The night fell soon, while they had their short break. It was pretty nice, Link decided. He needed a break. It was good that Sora was there to make him do it. Navi wouldn't have. Link probably would have just kept running, and his mind would have continued to eat at him. The two soon left the bar, taking up their things as they stepped outside.

"So where are we going to sleep?" Sora asked, yawning.

"Outside."

Sora grinned. "Awesome."

They walked down a staircase to a grassy field, where several small trees stood between the houses. Link laid down by a tree and Sora sat down next to him. "Under the stars. This is just great." Sora commented.

"Yeah. It's pretty nice." Link said, as Sora got to his back.

"Even the stars look unfamiliar." He muttered. "Goodnight."

"Hey, thanks for hanging by me. Having a friend here helps. A lot."

"What about me?" Navi asked.

"Another friend." Link said. "You know what I mean."

"Right. Goodnight." Navi said, flying into Link's hat.

/o\\\\\\\\\\\\

The sun rose on Kakariko, and Link felt morning dew against his fingers as he sat up and yawned, causing a reaction from the brown haired boy next to him. In time, the two were up and moving about the village. After finding a cheap breakfast, they stood at the foot of the mountain that stood behind Kakariko.

"This is Death Mountain, if you didn't know."

"Ominous." Sora commented, with a smirk.

"Yeah. Pretty much. There's a tribe that lives up at the top of the mountains. Rock people. They're called Gorons. They've been rendered pretty helpless right now. Apparently because of a dragon that Ganon raised from the dead."

"_Dragons_." Sora repeated, with a smirk. "Dragons raised _from the dead_. Man, this place just keeps getting neater and neater!"

Link rolled his eyes at the other boy. "Sorry if I don't share your enthusiasm."

With that, the two started upward. It was a long trek up the mountain, but they made it finally to the mouth of the mountain, from which hot smoke seeped forth. "I forgot. This is going to be really hot." Link said, taking off his green tunic, and replacing it with a red one, actually impressively fast. "You'll probably need to get some heat resistant clothes."

Sora shrugged. "You know, I think I'll be fine."

"Alright. Just let me know if you can't take it and need to go. This isn't a question of toughness, it's just… well, we're going to a _volcano_."

Sora nodded. "Yep."

Link started cautiously inside, and Sora followed carelessly as ever. Even with his tunic, it was incredibly hot inside, bordering the line between bearable and not. However, Sora seemed fine, much to Link's surprise. After frequently checking Sora, who seemed to not even be sweating, he decided it would just have to be one of those moments to look past and not question too much. Sora was too helpful and too friendly to push away for something that was, yes, strange- but ultimately a good thing.

They came to a bridge, which was broken. Link used his hookshot to traverse, and Sora made it in a single bound, which still confused Link to no end. He was standing only feet above such high temperatures, and was still smiling, as if the temperature was perfect.

"Link!" A voice suddenly filled the area. Link looked up, and Sora with him, to see a figure, wrapped in cloths, showing only a few strands of golden blonde hair, and a big red eye. The figure leapt from their perch, and landed in front of Link.

"Sheik?" Link asked.

With a glance up to Link, Sheik stood straight. "It is something that grows over time... a true friendship." Sheik started walking forward. "A feeling in the heart that becomes stronger over time... The passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power and through it, you will know which way to go..." Sheik reached behind and pulled out a small harp. "This song is dedicated to the power of the heart... Listen to the Bolero of Fire..."

Link readied his ocarina, and listened, and learned, as the song flowed into his mind. It had hotness to it, a deep feeling of unbreakable bonds. He felt that as his fingers moved about the ocarina. Soon, the song had ended, and Sheik and Link stared at each other.

"That song was pretty awesome." Sora said, nodding his head approvingly.

Sheik looked behind Link, to the boy who had spoken. The eye behind the cloth widened somewhat at Sora, who must have been completely unnoticed until then. "Who… are you?"

"Oh, I'm just a friend of Link's. I'm guessing you're the same-" Sora was suddenly cut off by Sheik standing only inches from his face. "Whoa… buddy…"

"You… you're…" Sheik placed a hand on Sora's chest. Sora could feel Sheik's breathing still. "Your heart… it's so much older than your body…"

"What?" Sora took a step back, a bit uncomfortable for the first time that Link had known him.

"Your eyes, I see the youth." Sheik went on. "Your body appears only to be just recently leaving adolescence, but your heart… it's so much older. So many connections, lives- your heart…" Sheik grabbed Sora's arm.

Suddenly, Sora cringed, as Sheik's hand glowed. "Ah! Whoa-" Suddenly, Sora's keyblade appeared in his hand.

Sheik backed suddenly, as if surprised. "I knew it."

"What?" Sora asked.

"I should have known… so many things coming at once. I should have known that you would too."

Sora looked puzzled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Sheik took a long look at Sora, as if deciding whether or not he was sincere.

"Link, be weary. The appearance of this boy means much more is going on than we know. Ganon may not be the worst fear. Until we know for sure, keep him close."

Link looked at Sora, then back to Sheik, realizing a horrible implication. There was nothing worse than Ganon. How could anything be worse? "Sheik, I-" Suddenly, a wall of flames formed between them, and Sheik backed away. When the wall died away, Sheik was gone.

It became awfully quiet between Sora and Link. Link looked at Sora. "What was that about?"

"I dunno." Sora shrugged. "You tell me. Who was that guy?"

Link took a breath. "Just a mysterious guy that I met not long ago. He's been helpful. He knows my situation and wants to help. I just wanted to know why he seemed to be afraid of you."

Sora shrugged again. "Man, that kinda sucks. I don't want anyone to be afraid of me."

"Has this ever happened before?"

"Um… well, I think once…"

"What's there to be scared of?"

"I don't know. I'm- I mean, I'm pretty strong- to ends that even I don't completely know. But still, I feel like if my intentions are good, they shouldn't be scared… right?"

Link sighed. The moment was becoming far too strange and he was just getting more confused. "Look, we should go ahead and go into the temple." He decided.

There was a huge ladder that the two started to climb down into a pit, which Navi assured was the way.

"So… you _do_ believe me, right?" Sora said, as they made it to the bottom and started to walk toward the temple.

"About what?"

"My intentions… in that… you know, I just want to help. I don't want people to be scared of me. And… I don't want you to think I'm hiding anything from you."

"But aren't you?" Link asked, not mad, but genuinely curious. "I mean, it seems like you dance around the point sometimes when I ask you things- like something's holding you back from telling me certain information about you."

Sora unhappily looked to the side. "Well… I _do_ have rules… You know what, forget those rules! If you're going to be open with me, I want to be open with you. No more cryptic, no more dancing around the point. From now on, I'm an open book."

"Okay." Link smiled. "And… yeah, I know your intentions are pure enough. I mean, if I thought Ganon had sent you to kill me, then I probably wouldn't have slept near you like last night. You would have killed me in my sleep."

"I don't know if I should smile at that." Sora said, blank faced. "So I won't. I just don't like to think about that sort of thing."

"Okay. Come on. I need to find an old friend of mine." Link waved him to follow.

Link and Sora started up some stairs, slowly. Link looked left, and Sora looked right. "Here, this door's unlocked." Link said, starting to his left.

Suddenly, there was a piercing shrill noise from above. "Link- look out!" He heard Sora shout.

"Huh?" He ducked, then looked up, seeing some sort of energy flying from Sora's hand, taking over a fire ridden Keese. Suddenly, the bat fell from the sky above Link, next to him completely frozen in ice, and harmless to anyone. Link looked over to Sora, raising an eyebrow.

Sora stared back blankly.

Link suddenly smiled. "Nice."

Sora smiled back. "Blizzard magic."

"You'll have to teach me that one."

Link opened the door ahead, and the two walked into the room ahead. It was a room with a remarkably high ceiling, platforms above lava filled pits, and a figure facing the huge door with golden chains and locks, much like the one that had opened the way to Phantom Ganon. The man was huge, with a back so rough that it looked made of stone. He turned back at hearing the noise and looked at Link.

"Link." He said, in surprise. "Is that you, brother?"

"Darunia!" Link called.

"It _is_ you." Darunia looked as though he couldn't help himself but to smile. "It's been many years, and your body shows it, doesn't it? You've gotten much bigger. Stronger too. If now were a better time, I would like to spend some time catching up, but right now, there are more important things at hand. Ganon has revived an ancient dragon, which feeds on Gorons, and it has been terrorizing my people. It's taken several of them captive and our tribe is staring in the face of extinction. I have no choice, as the leader of the Gorons to face the dragon now. Tales told of the one who sealed the dragon in ancient times using a tremendous weapon of brute strength and power to slay it that is somewhere in this temple. Unfortunately, I have had no time to search. I will go face the dragon now, in hopes that I may save my people from onslaught, or if nothing else. Link, I very well may fail, but the time I buy fighting will be enough for you to get that weapon and come back to finish the job. But let thoughts about me be second priority. Please, rescue my people from this dungeon, and should you find the weapon, come back here and be sure that the job is finished when you're sure that they're all free."

Link nodded in affirmation. "I understand brother."

"And what do you say to that?" Darunia asked Sora. "Though I can't yet call you brother, I feel that you are worthy of my trust."

Sora gave a thumbs-up, with his hand on his hip. "We'll do it! Don't worry about your people, sir! We'll save them all from this place."

Darunia nodded. "Good luck. Thank you." He turned and went into the dungeon.

The door closed behind the Goron, filling the room with a loud noise of the dungeon door closing.

With that, Link sighed. "Man…" He muttered.

"You okay?"

"Sora, he basically just told us he was going to his death…"

Sora was silent for a moment, then pat Link on the shoulder. "Yeah. But we couldn't stop him. I think the last thing he wanted was for us to be depressed about it. Let's honor his wish and help out his people." Sora's eyes moved to the area to the left of the door that Darunia had gone through.

"Look, there's a cell right there!" Navi flew over to their left.

Link's vision followed his fairy over at the cell, then he turned back to Sora. Sora nodded, and together, the two jumped across the platforms before them, finding their landing in front of the cell. A Goron inside was laying down, curled up. "Hm…" Link muttered, examining the cell door. "Locked…" He smirked at Sora. "But that's not much of a problem, is it?"

Sora grinned back, holding his hand in the air, as his key materialized. He pointed it at the gate, which suddenly lit up brightly, then returned to normal as shimmers of light fell to the ground from it.

Link once again, smirked, impressed with Sora's ability. He grabbed the gate and pushed it aside. He walked in and tapped the Goron on the back. Suddenly, it sprung up and looked at Link with a confused glance. "Are you letting me go? Am I free?"

"Yeah." Link agreed. "Go back to Goron City."

"Wow! Thanks!" He stood and walked away.

After he was gone, Link looked at Sora. "Well… let's go find the rest."

Sora gave a thumbs-up as they started to cross back toward the front door.

"So, Sora, it's really hot in here." Navi looked to Sora. "How are you standing it?"

"I think it's my magic." Sora shrugged. "Something about not being easily effected by harsh environments. I'm actually probably the most adaptable person you've ever met, and it's the magic in my body that does it."

Link nodded. "Alright. Magic's great, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it really is!" Sora agreed, walking to the door on the other side.

They opened it, revealing a room with a simple wooden bridge overhanging a pit of open lava. Several platforms offered ways to rooms on the side. "Might be some Gorons in those."

Sora nodded in agreement. "I'll take one, you take the other?"

Link agreed.

Jumping from platform to platform, Link eventually found his way to the door. Inside, there wasn't much to find. A gold Skulltula and a Like-Like. Link was sure to keep his distance destroying both of them. No Gorons, though.

Sora however was led to a dungeon with a cowering Goron inside. "G-go away dragon! Don't eat me-"

"Not a dragon." Sora tapped on the bars of the cell with his keyblade, making it release and move.

The Goron uncurled from its position. "So- I can leave?"

"Yeah! Go back to Goron City."

"I… I will. Thank you."

Sora and Link met up at the locked door at the side they hadn't explored in the room that they had split up in. Sora casually tapped the door and the lock fell away. "Any Gorons?" Sora asked.

"No. Did you find one?"

"Yeah."

"Well… progress, right?"

Slowly and carefully, they made their way through the temple, sure to rescue any Gorons. They checked every corner, every twist and turn, and every encountered room to be sure. "It's been a climb, do you realize?" Navi asked, as they moved up somehow even further. "I have no doubt that we're well above the mountain's top. Which is strange, because I don't remember seeing a structure."

"Maybe it's bigger on the inside?" Link shrugged.

"Sounds pretty impossible." Sora said, climbing another ledge.

Link smirked. "Then again, you're a mysterious magic wanderer with a key that only you can hold that opens any lock."

"What's your point?"

"If this really _was_ bigger on the inside, that wouldn't be the strangest thing ever."

Sora laughed. "True. So what does this switch do?" Sora asked, tapping a floor switch. He pressed it down with his foot and looked around the room. Looking around, there was a circular structure, which had a narrow path that led to a fire-surrounded chest. At tapping the chest, the fire died. "Oh, okay." Sora nodded. Then, the fire rose again, almost instantly. "Okay, not okay."

"That's awfully quick."

Sora nodded in agreement. "Luckily, we're two people."

"Right." Link agreed. "I'll go over there, and you stand on the switch."

"Aye-aye."

Their plan set, it worked perfectly. Link opened the chest and retrieved a massive hammer, shimmering with steel on the top, embedded with the mark of the Gorons. He carried it back to Sora, carefully, two handed as it was fairly heavy. "Big ol' hammer." Sora grinned.

"Yeah."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure."

Sora took it in a hand and started waving it in the air, like it was nothing. "Man. This thing's big."

Link cocked his head at him, as he knew that the hammer was not exactly light. "Sora… how strong exactly _are_ you?"

"I guess fairly. I think the magic does that too." He handed the hammer back to Link. "I'm guessing that this is the weapon that your friend was talking about. You can go face that dragon and kill it dead for good with this."

"Yeah…" Link agreed.

"And as I see it, we can't really go too much further vertically. This must be the top of the temple." He looked down the ledge. "Whoa! This drops all the way down to the room with the rope bridge!" He pointed. "See? Look, you can even see that place with the narrow walkways."

"Yeah. So, do you think we should jump?"

"I don't know if you'll be able to roll that one out." He looked over to a few cloths that were on a wall.

"I actually… I have a good solution for this one."

"Do you?"

"Yeah. A teleportation spell. Two problems with that though- It only works on me, and it takes out a lot of my magic. I don't much mind that because I don't use magic too often, but you'd still be way up here."

"Go for it. I'll meet you down there."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright…"

In a moment, Link was gone, disappearing in green light with a vocal incantation, leaving Sora alone, standing on the edge of a drop that would travel downward, several thousand feet. He happily sighed, closing his eyes as he put his feet to the edge. He eased his hands into his pockets. For just a moment, he started to think of the times before keyblades and magic and world travel, when he was just a kid who lived on the Destiny Islands. He laughed a little at himself and everything that had happened since then. "I'm on another world, I've made a friend, and I'm helping them through their toughest times…" He opened his eyes. "Man, if you told me back then that one day, I would be standing on the cliff of a volcano, looking down a pit that leads all the way down, hundreds and hundreds of feet, then decide that I should teeter my toes off the edge…" He pushed his toes so they no longer stood on solid ground, but only his heels kept his balance on the edge, "and do this…" He fell forward. "I'd call you crazy." He smirked, letting free-fall overtake his body.

/o\\\\\\\\\\\\

Link appeared at the temples entrance, like he knew the spell would allow him to do, before he took a knee, exhausted by the sudden lack of magic energy in his body. He felt light headed and nearly exhausted. After a breath, he stood up and shook the feeling off as best as he could, knowing that the magic would slowly start to replenish naturally.

Then, there was a creaking noise. Link looked up and to his left, seeing the door open. Sora stepped through, _much_ bit to the confusion of Link.

"Wha…? But- how…?" Link stammered.

"I jumped and glided." He said with a hint of a shrug. "I can do that."

"_Glide?_"

"Yeah."

Link laughed once. "Should I just assume you can do whatever you want, now that I know you can _fly_?"

"Not fly. _Glide_. It's different. Downward motion. It's useful considering how high I can jump, but not so much that it beats out other methods of transportation. You know?"

Link shook his head.

"Well, whatever." Sora clapped his hands, then pointed at a door. "Dragon!"

"Right."

Together, Link and Sora made their way to the door that they had seen Darunia go in by himself, unarmed and unprepared, but with valor and bravery. Sora walked close to the door with his hand extended. Suddenly, a blue barrier stopped his hand from traveling further.

"You can't go in here either, can you?" Link asked.

"I figured this would happen. But you have the hammer. You should be okay." Sora turned to Link. "How's your magic?"

"Sort of low…"

"If you had a percentage?"

"Probably about 20 percent at this point."

Sora nodded. "Here," he put his hand on Link's shoulder and suddenly, Link was startled at the warmth that traveled through his body. He felt the magic in his body running stronger than before. "There's a bit of my magic." Sora took his hand off.

"Man- wow- I feel… so much better than _ever!_ How much magic did you give me?"

"Only a little."

"Man- that was more than a little for me!" He grinned. "Thanks."

Sora nodded. "Hey, kick some ass for me in there, alright?" He pat Link on the shoulder.

"Right."

Sora looked back to the door, and then held up his hand, as the keyblade began to materialize. At its solidification, he pointed it at the door. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

A beam shot forth from his key, and opened the lock on the dungeon's door. The lock fell, along with the chains that kept it shut. Link walked forward and opened the door. "I'll see you outside." The door shut behind him.

Sora breathed a sigh of relief and let his keyblade disappear. He wished again that he could go into the room with Link, but had every bit of faith that Link would be all right. He had proven himself a more than capable fighter. Even so, Sora wished himself by the side of his new friend. He made his way out of the door.

Back in the foyer, Sora started walking down the stairs, toward the entrance of the temple. Link would make his own way out when he was finished.

"What are you doing here?" A voice came from behind.

Sora stopped. He turned slowly to see a barely familiar face. Sheik.

"And who are you?" Sheik asked, forcefully.

Sora smirked back. "Who am I? _You're _the one in the mask."

Sheik scoffed. "Clever. That key of yours. It marks you as someone with a lot of power. I doubt I have to tell you that."

"No. You don't. I know."

"So you understand why I can't trust you."

Sora blinked a few times. "Not really. Just because I have power doesn't mean I'm using it wrongly. We all have the capacity to do bad things. _Most_ of us don't though."

"I don't understand why you're helping us."

"Who's _us_? I'm here to help _Link_. I don't know _you_."

"I meant all of Hyrule. By helping Link, you're helping the whole world. I just don't understand why _you_- a being from so far- usually so uninvolved- I don't understand why you're here and willing to help all of the sudden. Where were you for the past seven years when we needed you the most?"

Sora was silent for a moment. "Sheik… what exactly do you think I am?"

After that question, it was Sheik's turn to be quiet.

"I don't know what you think I am, but I'm just a guy here. I want to help Link, because he needs help. I have no ulterior motive. I promise. Link needs help- and I have the ability to help him, and what he's doing is helping people, and I like to help people, and Link's a nice guy going through some tough stuff! He needs a friend, and I wanted to make a friend, so now I'm helping a friend. What do you want from me?"

Sheik continued to stare. "An old legend says that the ones who held the keys were the ones who gave power to the gods, and one day those beings would return to Hyrule in a time of war- to return Hyrule to the dust it rose from."

"And that's what you think I am? That's what you think keybearers are? Gods?"

"The creators and destroyers of the universe." Sheik said back.

Sora didn't know what to say to that. He'd never been thought of as a god before, and it was unnerving. He didn't like it, but saw no way to convince Sheik otherwise. "Yeah, I'm a keybearer, but not all keybearers are bad."

"If you're not here to destroy us, then why are you here? Why did you come here in the first place if not to destroy us?"

Sora took a breath. "I came here to see a new world. I wanted to go to a new place… meet new people… learn what hardships they go through, relate, and build friendships. My power comes from my heart." He pointed to his chest. "Every connection I make builds a tie with a person. Those ties make me stronger-"

"So you're here in search of power."

"No. I'm here in search of people to fight for. People who I know will believe in me, and will give my heart a home should I ever become lost."

Sheik's distrusting stare was cold as ever. "If you just came to make friends, then you picked a hell of a time to do it. Hyrule is at war. I just hope you're on our side."

"I'm on _Link's_ side." Sora clarified. "I'm just here to help him. All I want is a friend here."

"Sorry. Things just aren't that easy. Goodbye, keybearer. I'll be watching you." Sheik raised his hand up and threw something at the Sora's feet. It let out a huge flash and a loud bang. When Sora could see and hear again, Sheik was gone.

Sora sighed in a little frustration before he turned and left the temple. After climbing to the top of the ladder, he waited on the broken bridge, sitting over the pool of boiling tephra below, kicking his feet back and forth, patiently awaiting Link.

A blue light shone above him. Sora looked up to see the blonde, red clad warrior dropping to the ground. He looked around, becoming reoriented, then spotted Sora and started to run over to him.

"Hey." Sora threw a wave over his shoulder.

"Hey, Sora." Link nodded.

"You alright?"

"Yeah… Darunia didn't make it. But he woke as a sage, and he's helping me from the sacred realm. Just like my friend from the forest. He told me to thank you on his behalf."

Sora nodded. "Cool." He stood up.

"What about you? You alright?"

"Me? Yeah! I'm fine." He gave Link a grin. "I just… I ran into Sheik on the way out."

"Sheik is still here?"

"Well- was." Sora told him. "Sheik still doesn't trust me. That kinda sucks… you know?"

"In his fairness, you're really damn strange."

"Okay- but who's being more secretive between us?"

"At this point, probably Sheik." Link gave him that. "But that doesn't mean that I don't trust him too."

"I know. I'm not saying you shouldn't. I just… don't like being not liked."

Link pat him on the shoulder. "Well, I like you."

"Do you trust me?"

Link nodded. "Yeah. Totally. I still don't really _understand_ you. But I know you're trustworthy."

Sora smiled again. "Thanks."

"What do you say we get the hell out of the volcano?"

"Sounds good."

Night had fallen by the time they made it back to Goron City. Link had to deliver the sad news of Darunia's fate to his son. His son understood, and was proud that his father died a hero to the Gorons. They thanked Link as their brother, and named him Link the Dragon Slayer. For the ones that he had freed, Sora was made a brother to the Gorons, and welcomed to the city as a member of the Goron tribe. It was a warm experience for both of them. Even so, exhausted from the temple, they tired of the nonstop jubilation and gathered their belongings and started down the mountain down to Kakariko.

**Please, please, please, please, please, please review. They're like little presents. Any criticism, anything you liked, you hated… Please? Just a few words? **


	3. Chapter 3

**I know what it's like waiting for new chapters. If any of you have been in a lot of anticipation for this, sorry for the wait. Happy to finally deliver! ENJOY!**

"So where do we go from here?" Sora asked as they found their way to Kakariko's gate.

"Lake Hylia. To help the Zoras. They're a race of fish-like people…" Link explained, then stopped. "I… figured you didn't know that."

Sora nodded with a smirk. "You're catching on."

"Hey… I've been wanting to know. Wherever you're from- is everyone like you there?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is everyone as powerful as you are wherever you're from?"

Sora shook his spiked head. "Nah. I'm kinda special. I have a special job, I figured out. The people back where I'm from- no, they're not like me. I'm what's called a keybearer. It was a job handed to me by destiny that gave me all the awesome powers and abilities that I have."

"Keybearer." Link repeated. "So that big key of yours- that's something really special, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's pretty special." Sora agreed. "I'm not the only keybearer around though. And… _most_ of the other ones are pretty nice." He scratched his head. "But the problem is that in the past, there were a lot of keybearers that weren't so nice. I think there are still a few that aren't. Power can turn a lot of people to the dark, you know? Because of that, some of the people who know about us don't like us too much. When keybearers go bad, they can do some pretty devastating stuff. That's probably why Sheik doesn't trust me."

"So basically, you get this power… and you're here, helping me?"

Sora nodded.

"You have to give Sheik credit- that _is_ awfully strange of you. If I didn't know you a little better, I might think you were up to something."

"Well… I hope you know I'm not."

"I do." Link affirmed. "Don't worry, I know you're nice. I'm glad you're here."

The two slept under the same tree that they found before they went up the mountain before. When morning rose the next day, they stayed only for breakfast, then were gone from the village, heading south. They traveled across Hyrule field for the majority of the day. It was about sunset by the time that they crossed the gate to the lake.

Upon their arrival, Link decided that Sora seemed mildly depressed by Lake Hylia. In his fairness, Link was depressed as well. Seeing the lake at such a dangerously low level was truly saddening. Some of his fondest memories after leaving Kokiri were spent at the Lake, enjoying the sun, talking to the Zora tribe, playing music for the dancing scarecrows, but with the lake all but gone, it was hard to keep a smile on.

"The temple is down there." He pointed as they made their way down the nearly empty lake. He adjusted the blue tunic he had recently changed into. "It's underwater. These clothes let me breathe under water, but I've only got one pair." He looked to Sora. "Now, I suppose that you would have a problem with _that_, right?"

Sora shook his head and smiled. "Nah, I'll be fine."

Link scoffed. "Should have known. But I'm excited to see how you manage _this_ one… Alright, follow me."

The two traversed the gap between the surface and the entrance of the temple easily, surfacing and swimming over to a platform. Sora eased over to the edge of the platform before teetering off it slightly and looking around. He looked up at the way the light reflected from the several torches into the water, and up to the cave's top, which in turn lit the floors and the water. It was a pretty beautiful place. The water, as they could see it, ran extremely deep- a good fifty or so feet, of perfect, clear water. "But take heed…" Sora muttered in a playfully low voice, "for creatures of mal intent lurk in the trenches…"

"You're creeping me out."

He grinned back at Link. "Just saying. Beautiful place. But there's danger in beauty sometimes. Know what I mean?"

Link nodded back. "Well, let's go."

Sora nodded, then held out his hand. His keyblade appeared and he reared it, facing a wall. He swung hard at the wall, gashing it, with the sound and the sight of sparks making Link cringe. Then, Sora found a jutting piece of the wall in the gash and touched it with his finger and grinned at it. His keyblade disappeared and he took off his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Link asked as Sora took off his undershirt and hung both on the jutting part of the wall, as if a hanger.

"Getting ready to go swimming." He grinned, kicking off his shoes and socks and then, standing simply in his shorts, gave Link a thumbs-up. "Ready."

Link gave a confused stare. "… okay…" He decided. He jumped across the water to a platform on the other side. Sora stood with him as they started to walk around the structure. "Where to start…?" Link wondered, walking around.

They turned a corner and Sora excitedly pointed to an area across the water. "There! Look, one of those target things that you can hit with your hookshot!"

As if on cue, Link pulled out his hookshot and shot, but just before it could hit and latch in, it stopped and retracted. He frowned a little. "Too short."

"Oh." Sora said, then became silent for a moment. "I could glide over there and pull you up."

"It's… _kinda_ high from the water. I don't know if our arms are long enough."

Sora crossed his arms and tapped his foot, thinking. "Yeah, you're right. Well, I guess we could try somewhere else."

The blue clad boy looked over the edge, into the water. "No way to go but down. Ready?"

Sora nodded. "I'll follow you."

"Okay, but if you need air-"

"I'll be fine." Sora told him.

With a breath and shrug, Link jumped into the water and started swimming to the bottom, feeling the effect of the blue tunic for the first time. It was like the clothes were putting air into his lungs for him, rendering his mouth nearly useless for breathing. It was almost scary at first, as it felt so strange, but with a few seconds of getting used to it, it was actually rather refreshing. He got to the bottom and put on his iron boots so he could stand normally on the bottom. He grinned, enjoying the idea of feeling the water, being underwater, but being able to breathe and function just as well as any other time. "Sora?" He looked around, trying to see where he was. Funny, even his voice carried just fine like it he was on dry ground. "You okay? Where are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He saw out of the corner of his eye, the other boy next to him. Link turned and flinched, seeing the other boy in a way he had never seen him before. For one, Sora was completely naked. However, it wasn't necessarily a crude naked, as Link could not see any 'unmentionable' parts of him, but there was indeed not a single piece of clothing on him. What really made him flinch was the sight of Sora no longer in what much resembled a truly normal form. His legs were gone, replaced by a finned tail that flicked back and forth a few times, giving him his placement in the water. It was gray and smooth, not like any fish that Link had ever seen before, not covered in scales, but certainly made for water. "… er…" That was all Link could muster.

"Yeah, I know." He said, with a grin and a shrug. "I can have a dolphin tail if I need one."

"What's a dolphin?" Link asked, wondering if that was the right question.

"Sea creature from other places. I guess Hyrule doesn't have 'em." He shrugged. "Weird though, because dolphins breathe air. But I dunno, I'm not complaining that I can breathe down here." He crossed his arms and grinned.

"How did you do that?"

"I dunno, really. The first time it happened, I was going to a place with a lot of water, so one of my friends who knows a lot of magic stuff made it so we could be underwater and you know… breathe and swim and stuff. So his magic did this to me. But it kinda stuck, I guess, because now every time I get too deep in the water, it just happens on its own. I guess his magic stuck with me, and now I'm super adaptable."

"_That_ adaptable though?"

Sora looked at his tail. "Well, looks that way! Is this too weird?"

Link paused for a bit, considering. "Honestly, all things considered…" He said, finally, "I think that it fits pretty much right in what I think I should expect from you."

"Oh, okay. Cool." Sora agreed. "Well, let's get going."

Link ran down a corridor with Sora swimming close behind, turning a corner. "So what are we looking for?" Sora asked Link.

"There's some sort of curse on the temple- we need to find it and break it. Probably a monster of some sort."

"Hard to think a monster could drain a whole lake."

"Well, the temple effects the health of the region that the temple has domain over, and the health of a temple can be effected just by having a monster in their most spiritual places."

"Oh, gotcha." They turned another corner. "It's a sort of cool concept… like, everything's connected-" Sora stopped as Link stopped in front of him. All Sora could see was a look of incredible shock from the blue clad warrior.

"Hello, Link." A voice carried around the corner, making Sora curious. He turned the corner, looking ahead. "Who's that?" He asked in regards to the figure in front of them.

Link looked ahead at the woman, whose fins were moving in the water, holding her to the floor. Her eyes ran over him carefully, taking in his full appearance, as Link knew that she hadn't seen him for a very long time. And considering their commitment to each other, that was probably not optimal on his part.

"That's my…" He paused, not looking back to Sora. "Fiancée…" He finished.

"Oh…" He nodded. Then, his eyes went wide. "OH!" He scratched the back of his head. "Er- I… I'll… leave you two alone for a bit!" He quickly flicked his tail and practically flew around the corner and out of sight.

Link looked back to the woman in front of her, fully realized as a woman for the first time, since they had met when they were so young. "… Ruto…" He said softly.

"I never forgot the vows we made to each other, those days, seven years ago. I waited for you. I knew that one day you'd return to me. I knew you were honest. I knew you wouldn't break the promise. Of course, it's _terrible_ that you would keep me waiting for so long."

"Ruto, I'm sorry! I didn't want you to have to wait. I got trapped- I couldn't control the situation. And you're right. I _haven't_ broken the promise. I'm still willing to honor our commitment."

She smiled at him, then walked forward, standing close. "That's sweet of you to say. But, now's not the time for those issues…" She sighed. "I didn't come here because I thought I would see you here. I'm sure you've seen Zora's domain. It's totally frozen."

"Yeah, I saw… I'm so sorry. How did you make it out?"

"I was saved by someone. A man named Sheik."

Link exhaled sharply at the mentioning of the mysterious man. "Sheik. Of course."

"… But everyone else is still frozen. I still need to find a way to make everything right again. You'll help me right? Help the woman who's going to marry you when this is all over?"

Link nodded. "Of course, Ruto."

"Good… well, in the temple somewhere, the monster that plagues this place with its evil lurks. I'm going to keep looking through the temple for this thing. You do the same."

"Right. I will, Ruto. And then, you and I can exchange our vows, and I'll make up for the time that I couldn't be around these past seven years."

She grinned. "Link, don't make promises you know you can't keep." She sprang up and swam upward, quickly. "See you later."

"What? Ruto, I mean it!" He said, looking up at her as she rose in the water. He struggled to get the iron boots off, but by the time that he could rise up and get out of the water, she was already gone.

He sighed at the empty area, wondering where she had gone. Then, he heard a sound behind him of something surfacing. He turned quickly- "Ruto!" He shouted, but to his disappointment, was instead greeted by the concerned face of Sora.

"Hey. Did everything turn out okay?" The spiky haired boy asked.

Link sighed. "I… I don't know…"

"Oh. I'm sorry." He said, flicking his tail as his body flopped out of the water and on to the tiled floor of the temple. Water moved off of him, but as it did, it seemed almost as if his tail was moving off of him as well, like moisture falling away, separating itself and moving into two parts which Sora soon used to stand up on. Even his shorts rematerialized as he found himself back on his legs. He flicked his toes as if he missed the feeling, then stood in front of Link, who looked almost disturbed by the change. "So what's next?"

"We have to go find the monster in the temple…" He said, still staring at Sora's legs, unobtrusively checking to be sure they looked normal. They did. Link wasn't sure if it would be stranger if they didn't look normal. Trying to wrap his mind around the mystery that Sora still was, his head started to hurt.

With an agreeing nod from the spiky haired boy, the two started deeper into the temple. Through walking and swimming, several different corners, twists and turns, unlocking doors, finding dead ends, going back over ground, they found themselves deep in the temple, but as for which way to go, they were at a loss.

"Here, lemmie see the map." Sora said, snatching it from Link's hand. "See, look, I told you we should have gone right back-"

"You're holding the map upside down."

"…" He turned the map over. "Okay- so, to get to _this_ room- wait… which room are we in?"

Link sighed in exasperation and took the map back. "This thing's useless right now. I can't believe we went through so much to get it."

"It wasn't that bad- just a switch and a water jet… okay, yeah, an _intense _water jet…"

Link shook his head at the memory.

"Well, we're walking, not swimming." Sora pointed out. "Is that a hint?"

"No." The Hylian rubbed his eyes in frustration, staring at the map. "This temple is way too confusing…"

Sora laughed a little. "No kidding."

"We're in the… square… room."

"They're _all_ square."

Link groaned. "I know!" He looked back at the map, then his eyes widened. "Wait- we… we were… we got here by going through a door on… the middle level… right?"

The other boy nodded.

"I've been watching it from… the top level. _Augh_!" The blue clad warrior crumpled up the map and threw it away. "We're lost."

Sora tapped his bare foot on the floor, looking up thoughtfully. "Well, it could always be worse, right?" He put his hands behind his head, grinning at Link. "At least we're not alone."

Link ran his hand though the hair on his head that his hat didn't cover, and started pacing, unsure what to do. "Okay- Sora- you… you've got… some way out of this right? I mean, you've been able to do like… everything else. What do you do when you're lost?"

"Honestly? I embrace it." He shrugged. "You know… just sort of pick a direction and just… go."

"You're not helping."

"I figured, but you asked." Sora smirked. "It's how we met, remember?" He paused. "Hey, what about your teleporty thing?"

"If I use that, what happens to you? Do you just stay here?"

"Oh, right."

Link started walking. "Well, in any case, we're not helping ourselves by just standing here."

"True." Sora followed behind him as the reached the end of a hallway. "And plus, I don't think we've been in _this_ room yet."

They walked into a room with a pool of water, along with a few platforms and strange dragon-like statues that they haven't seen before. On the water, a few blue tektites (or as Sora had been calling them, '_Whoa, look at those giants bugs'),_ sat still until they saw the two walk into the room, then started jumping toward them, obviously hostile. They weren't much of a threat though, and were finished off with a few arrows.

There was a crystal switch in the middle of the room of a kind that was by no means new to either of them. They had seen several around and there were a few in the fire temple as well. Link fired an arrow at the switch to see what it did. The switch changed color at the arrow's contact and the water drained from the pool, and the statues lowered. Link scanned the room, seeing how it would be necessary to shoot the switch several times before eventually getting to the last statue, which would eventually lead to the statue at the end, where raising it would serve as an elevator to an upper level. Seeing all that, calculating his moves and knowing how much time it would take, he looked to Sora and sighed. "I hate this place."

"Oh, come on, cheer up! Let's do it."

In time, the two were rising up the dragon head to finally step on the upper level. The two made their way to a locked door. Sora unlocked it with his keyblade as they approached. After unlocking it, he made a move to open the door. Then, his hand stopped before he could touch the knob, forced back by a barrier.

"Huh?" Link tilted his head a bit. "You can't go in?"

"Guess not…" Sora frowned.

"So what will happen to you if I get transported outside like the last few times?"

Sora tapped his feet at the floor, thinking. "Here, I'll wait here for you for an hour or so. And… if you don't show up, I'll start retracing my steps! Alright?"

Link gave a nod, then opened the door, keeping his eyes on Sora as they closed. As the door shut, Sora peeked past Link curiously into the room that he had been forbidden to enter. It was a strange setting as Sora could see it. It looked like an ocean. An eerily still ocean with an island in the distance.

The door shut and once again, Sora found himself alone. Only the sound of a bit of trickling water could be heard as he eased himself against a wall. He took a few relaxing deep breaths, letting his mind run back and forth between thinking about everything that had happened since he found himself in the forest temple, and what might be going on behind the door that Link had gone in. Feeling his heart racing a little at what could be, he smiled at the knowledge that Link was strong, and could handle anything that was thrown at him.

But once _that_ thought had solidified, there was still the thought everything that had brought him to the room he was sitting in. He sat up bit curiously, rubbing his eyes. Trying to recall what he was doing before the forest temple was starting to make his head hurt. He leaned back against the wall keeping his eyes closed. "There was… after the world that never was…" He muttered to himself. "Then…" He sighed, not feeling his memory working right. "Something… important…" He couldn't quite recall. "Riku had become a master- wait… that wasn't it either." With his eyes closed and his mind cloudy, he started to think about clouds, listening to the sound of water from the temple. Then he began thinking about oceans. Water dissolving, water removing, water at the bottom of the ocean. He tried to refocus his mind on his memory, but it was drifting, like water being carried. Dissolving… removing… water… at the bottom… of the ocean…

o

The blue clad warrior emerged from the door he had entered only maybe a half hour before, taking a few exhausted deep breaths, before looking over the spiky haired boy, who laid snoring on the floor of the temple. "Sora." Link said, intentionally loud enough to wake him.

The sleeping boy sprang up into a sitting position. "Same as it ever was-" He muttered disjointedly before consciousness took over his body again. He looked over to Link, suddenly noticing that he didn't look so good. He was visibly cut, there were bloodstains on his clothes, and he looked on the brink of collapse. "Whoa- Link… you don't look so good." He stood up quickly and got closer to him, as Link nearly fell over onto him. Sora held him up. "What happened in there?"

"Just a big fight…" He breathed.

"Against what?"

"Myself."

"…" Sora raised an eyebrow at Link as the answer sank in with a few second's passing. "Come on, buddy, don't get all existential on me, please. I get enough speeches on reality and darkness and hearts and all of that stuff as it is."

Link groaned in response, obviously in pain.

"Whoa, whoa… hang on." Sora put a hand on Link's chest. "Cure!"

Link saw Sora's hand light up in green light as he felt a sudden warming energy moving through him. The pain in his body started to dissipate as he found himself able to stand easily again. The warmth spread to the bleeding cuts on his arms. Link watched in awe as they started to heal, leaving no trace of scars or even blood marks. In a moment, he looked and felt like no battle had transpired, standing strong once again.

Sora pulled his hand away, grinning while Link shifted his weight between his feet and bounced on the balls of his feet. "Feeling better?"

Link nodded. "Yeah… You can heal people too?"

"Yep."

"Man- you're… you're the best travel partner anyone could ask for."

Sora smiled widely. "Aw, thanks man! You're awesome too!"

Moving his shoulders, feeling refreshed, Link looked back at Sora more seriously. "So there's a door in there that I need to follow. See if you can come in this time."

Sora slowly reached for the door, then grinned as he was able to grasp the handle. "Cool!" He opened the door and walked inside. "Island time!" He stopped suddenly, noticing that the room was massive, yes, but didn't look any different than any other room in the temple in terms of décor. "Wait- I thought… I saw…" The boy turned to the Hylian, confused.

"Don't ask." Link shook his head, starting to walk across the room.

Sora scratched his head then shrugged, going along with Link.

Through the door across the room, Link opened the door, eyes widening at the chest inside. "Yes!" He ran over and started opening it. Sora watched from behind as he heard the sound of some metal moving as Link excitedly moved his hands within the chest. Then, with a tremendous smile, he held up his hookshot. "Nice!" Link smiled.

"You already had one of those, though." Sora tilted his head a bit. "Not that it's not cool and all, but…"

"No, there was a longer chain in here. See?" He pointed it and shot it.

Sora watched as the chain shot across the room, going almost twice as far, if not a little further. "Whoa- cool!" Sora grinned, impressed. "Now that I think about it, there were a few places that you couldn't quite reach with that thing, weren't there?"

Link nodded. "Yeah, like that door near the entrance!" He almost shouted excitedly, but he frowned in sudden realization. "Er- now we just have to get to the entrance."

"Right." Sora laughed lightly.

The two started to navigate the temple once again, trying to retrace their steps as carefully as possible. It took about an hour before they started to move into more familiar territory, moving through rooms that they recognized because of landmarks such as empty treasure chests, waterfalls, and huge whirlpools. In time, the two were swimming up to the top back at the entrance of the temple, surfacing by the area that Link's hookshot couldn't quite reach before. Link didn't wait try out the upgrade, and pulled out his hookshot, shot over, and cleared the gap, landing on the other side. He turned and watched Sora glide over to him, which impressed the Hylian, as it was the first time he had actually seen Sora do it. Still, they didn't dwell on it long and went to the door.

Inside, they looked up an incline to a marvelous door, pent up by golden chains and a massive lock. "This is the third place with a door exactly like that. I haven't been able to go into rooms that are behind those doors. What's up with that?" Sora wondered aloud, summoning his keyblade and holding it to the lock. A beam of light fired out from his keyblade, unlocking the door.

"In every temple, the most sacred room has been guarded by a door of that kind." Navi quipped. "The ones who built these places probably intended it that way."

"Right." Sora nodded to the fairy, then reared back his keyblade and hurled it toward the door. A barrier that hitherto could not be seen suddenly stopped it and bounced it back in the other direction. He caught the keyblade as it flew back to him, then shot a glance over to Link. "Well… knock 'em dead." He said, both knowing that Sora couldn't go any further. "I'll see you on the outside."

Link gave a nod, then started toward the door. Sora watched him toward it, standing by the door they had come through. They looked back at each other, gave each other a smile and a nod, then left the room through different doors. Sora into familiar ground, Link into danger.

It wasn't long before Sora was leaving the temple, walking up the steep incline of what must have once been a beautiful lake. He found a place to sit and look up at clouds as they drizzled rain down on him. He didn't mind the rain. It was a bit dreary, but kind of relaxing in a strange way. Plus, if it never rained, it would be hard to appreciate the sunny days.

Still, his mind wandered back to the a curious thought of how he even ended up in Hyrule in the first place. It had happened before, but it wasn't really common for him to lose memories in this way. He spent maybe half an hour there, letting himself start to dose, trying to focus and trace back what had happened. Every time he got to a point, he felt like his own mind was keeping him away from something. Something he couldn't recall, something blocked out, something… bad.

He suddenly sat up, eyes widened. It wasn't a memory that hit him, nor a picture, nor words, nor any true thought, but an emotion. He had cracked the wall in his mind, and a feeling hit him. Fear.

Sora felt his body tense. It wasn't often that he felt fear. He liked to think he was really brave, but whatever had happened, whatever brought him to Hyrule, whatever this was, made him afraid. He closed his eyes, putting his hand to his chin, taking a breath. _'What do I fear…?' _ He wondered. _'The heartless? No… Organization XIII? Not really… Xemnas? Xehanort? No…' _Sora put his hands around his legs, knowing that it if it wasn't any of those things, it had to be something else. At that point, he looked over both his shoulders and started to feel a bit cold. Then, a newer, chilling thought raced though his mind. He realized what he truly feared.

'_Where are my friends? Are they okay?'_ His hands tensed into fists.Goofy, Donald, Riku, Kairi… thinking about it all, trying to recollect, thinking about everything brought one feeling. Fear. There was no way that could be good.

Then, a sound. Rushing water. Sora saw movement from the water below. It seemed to be rising. Actually, it certainly was. Quickly. The raindrops slowed as the sun began to poke through the clouds. Water rose in the lake, and the clouds above were clearing. Almost instantly, the lake had become a warmer, more welcoming setting.

He turned, hearing footsteps behind him. He stood quickly, seeing the mysterious, blue and purple armor and white cloth clad figure walking to the edge of the grass, overlooking the rising water. A red eye turned to Sora, then back to the water. "Sheik." Sora said, standing up.

Sheik hardly acknowledged the greeting, but simply observed the setting. "As the water rises and the storms clear, the evil that once plagued the lake is vanishing."

"Which means that Link did it, right?"

Sheik looked over to Sora and gave a brief nod.

Sora took a relieved breath. "Good."

"I still have reservations about you, but I suppose I owe you some thanks." Sheik looked back over the lake. "I won't deny that you seem to have good intentions. You, Link, Princess Ruto… without all of you working together, the lake wouldn't have been restored. Everything is as it once was here."

Sora looked over the features of the Lake as the water stopped rising. It was truly beautiful.

"However, your being here is still an unnerving thought. I've thought about our conversation in the Fire Temple. You made it seem like you don't know what exactly brought you here. That may be true. But what ever it was that brought you here, I have no reason to think that it could be good." Sheik looked back at Sora seriously. "Figure out exactly what it is that brought you Hyrule. We are in enough danger as it is. Until I can be convinced that your being here is not in some way putting this kingdom into the way of harm, it's hard to consider you to be anything but a threat."

As if almost on cue, before Sora could respond, a blue light descended from the sky. Sheik and Sora looked up together, seeing Link descending.

"Goodbye for now, keybearer. I'll be watching you." Sheik edged toward the water.

"Sheik-" Sora reached out, but Sheik had jumped back over an edge, diving into deep water. He ran to the edge and looked for the mysterious figure, but Sora couldn't find him. He sighed, then turned around, seeing Link landing on the ground as the light from the sky that had carried him disappeared.

"Hey, Sora." Link said, walking over. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah- same old…" He took a breath, easing his hands into his pockets. "And you? What's up?"

"My fiancée… er… well, the same thing happened to her as… my friend from the forest and Darunia."

"I'm so sorry." Sora looked down. "I can't even imagine how you feel right now."

Link took a breath. "Yeah. Honestly though… I never _really_ wanted to marry her."

The spiky haired boy looked back curiously.

"She made me promise that I would when we were really young- it was the only way she would let me have something I needed for… someone I care about more." He kicked at the ground. "So I agreed. Under shallow terms, yes, but I agreed. I was ready to honor the commitment, but… things got out of control."

"You don't mean that… you're-"

"No, I'm not happy that this happened." Link looked over. "I never wanted Ruto to pass. I mean… she's in Sacred Realm helping me even still, but that doesn't make this any easier."

Sora pat him on the shoulder, comfortingly. "I'm here for you, alright? Maybe we should take a little break for a bit. I bet we both have a lot on our minds."

"Yeah." Link took a breath. "Hey- there's a nice fishing hole over there. Sound nice?"

Sora grinned and nodded.

Link started toward a shack that was across the lake. Inside, the two spent the rest of the day fishing, mostly letting silence sit between them. Relaxing, casting and reeling, they shared a few stories and thoughts on their minds. The fishing hole closed at Sundown, and the two went outside and found a place to sleep on the shore of the lake. Link explained to Sora that Ruto had a last request. She wanted Link to thank Sheik. Understanding, the two decided to look for Sheik the next day, agreeing that they felt that they would be most likely to find him back in Kakariko.

**Once again, I ask for a few simple words. What did you like? What did you hate? I read every review! PLEASE? YOUR WORDS ARE BETTER THAN THE FINEST CANDIES.**

**Thanks for reading. See you next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey folks. This will be the shortest chapter you'll ever read from me. For that, I'm sorry. But I did want to use this chapter to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about this. To those who are still with me, thanks. I promise, I won't let this go until it's done. But between school, friends, and my job, my writing time is limited. I hate to make an excuse like that, but it's kinda true. Anyway, here's this to get you excited for what's coming next. **

In the morning, the two warriors woke to the sound of the water of Lake Hylia gently moving against the shore. It brought a blissful awakening. Sora practically sprung up from sleep as if it was nothing, where Link was a bit more sluggish. Though, they were up soon, enjoying the morning. They decided it would be a shame to leave the place before taking in the beauty for a while.

Exploring, Link found a strange sign with a few questionable instructions. It implied firing an arrow into the morning sun. Sora shrugged back after Link voiced his confusion and said, "I mean, if nothing happens, you lose _one_ arrow."

A fair enough point, Link figured. They were probably worth half a rupee each anyway. He let one fly in the direction of the sun. Only minutes later, Link held an arrow enchanted with fire energy. Strangely, he felt the arrow's energy seeping into him, mixing with a pool of magic that already dwelled within his body. With that, the arrow's magic was gone, and it looked like the same arrow that he had fired. However, Link found that he could call upon that magic with an arrow drawn, and the magic would enchant the arrow to bring a burst of flame when contact with the target was made. Sora seemed at _least_ a little impressed with everything, with shouts of, 'Man- that's so awesome!' and 'Did you see that?!' as well as 'That's like- the coolest thing ever!'

It was about mid morning before they actually made their way out.

As they neared Kakariko, silence fell between them. Something felt strange. Link looked to Sora, whose normal carefree smile was replaced by a more serious look. Link was just nearly going to ask Sora if he felt the change in the airs that surrounded them, but he was interrupted by the spiky haired boy asking, "Hey, does something feel weird?" There was a unsettling look on his face as he asked.

"Yeah… I feel it too." Link nodded in agreement. They started up the stairs, when the smells of burning wood filled their nostrils. Sharing the same thought of alarm, the two started in full sprint up the stairs.

Link turned the corner first and stopped with a gasp and a leap in his chest. The village was ablaze. Link could feel the heat even from afar as he took in the sight of the burning walls and rooftops. People screamed in panic and fear as they ran. Some hand in hand, some alone, some with tears, some in pain. Among all the chaos, a single person, shrouded in bandages and cloth stood still. "Sheik…" Link breathed.

Sora ran past the Hero of Time. "Link- now's not the time to dawdle!" He shouted. "I'm going to go make sure everyone's safe! Get to Sheik!"

"Right!" Link ran. The heat on his face was terrible, but recalling his time in the fire temple, it wasn't unbearable. He brushed past the panicking crowd and made his way to the well, seeing that Sheik hadn't moved. "Sheik!" He yelled as he ran.

"Get back."

Even with Sheik facing away, his words pierced Link and brought him to a screeching halt. He took another step forward.

"Link, get back!" Sheik shouted. But as those words filled the air, they were drowned out by the sound of an explosion- something from the well. Debris and rubble flew upward from the well as Link covered his eyes. He uncovered his eyes after hearing a shout from Sheik, seeing him in the air, hovering above the air, screaming as he was being shaken violently, as if by some invisible force. Link could hear the sounds of movement from the force as Sheik was hurled away. Link gasped- he could practically feel the force moving toward him. He quickly drew sword and shield, but it was of no help. He could hardly tell what was happening, but only felt pain as the force overcame him. With several sharp blows to his body, pain overcame his body and consciousness left it.

When Link's awareness returned, he felt soreness throbbing over his body. He slowly opened his eyes with a groan, to see Sora and Sheik kneeling at his sides. Sheik made an audible sound of relief. "Looks like he's finally coming around…"

"Told ya he would." Sora smiled.

Sheik looked to Sora, then back to Link. "Link- something terrible has happened… the evil monster of spirit that has remained sealed beneath the well has broken from it's barrier. It was sealed there by Impa after Ganon released the monster to attack this place… Link, once again, I must ask too much of you. Please, go to the Shadow Temple and protect Impa. She's one of the six sages!"

Link gasped. "She is?"

Sora looked between them. "Who's Impa?"

Link slowly stood, brushing himself off, ignoring Sora. "I'll go now."

"Wait." Sheik said, forcefully. "This is not going to be like any of the temples you've been in before. If you're not prepared, you will not be able to make it through alive. Even with the help of your friend." The red-eyed man gestured to Sora. "You'll need to go equipped with the eye of truth." Sheik looked to the side. "Unfortunately, to have eyes that can see the truth, intense training that spans for many years are necessary… however, there are stories of a man who was able to see the truth with a tool he created. His house stood where the well is now… I have no doubt that the item has fallen to the bottom. However, with the seal that Impa put on the well, you will not be able to enter." Sheik looked at Link knowingly and Link seemed to understand.

"So I have to go back to when Impa hadn't yet sealed the well."

Sora blinked at the exchange of words between them. "Uh- what?"

"Link, be swift. This village can't take another attack of that kind."

The Hero of Time nodded, then turned about and waved for Sora to follow. Soon the two were running back in the direction of Hyrule Field.

"Uh- Link? What are we doing?"

"Sora, don't freak out at this, but… we have to go back in time."

Sora ran along side him, then slowly eased to a stop, eyes wide. He looked at Link as Link stopped to look back. "What?!" Sora shouted.

"Just follow me. You'll see!"

**Every review I see makes me feel guilty for not writing. REVIEW AND MAKE ME WANT TO WRITE! YOU ALL MAKE ME WANT TO MAKE YOU HAPPY!**


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